Research shows a strong correlation between social isolation and poor health outcomes.
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

The rising phenomenon of loneliness among older people needs to be addressed urgently otherwise the NHS risks being crippled by the costs of caring for isolated elderly patients in hospital, the NHS’s most senior acute care doctor has warned.

Failure to concentrate on this issue will lead to hospitals being transformed into “dormitories for older people” who have often been dispatched to A&E because they have no support structure at home.

His warning echoes a new drive launched by the Local Government Association (LGA), urging local councils to recognise loneliness as a “major public health concern”, which will put new strains on local services if it remains unaddressed.

The LGA will send a Combating Loneliness guide to the 370 councils it represents this week to highlight the health risks associated with loneliness. The publication cites research that suggests that loneliness can be more damaging than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and quotes a study that found that lonely people have a 64% increased chance of developing clinical dementia.

Izzi Seccombe, LGA spokeswoman for public health, said: “As our population profile changes, and we have a larger proportion of over 65s and over 85s, loneliness is becoming an increasingly important public health concern.

“The impact of loneliness can be devastating and costly – with consequences comparable to smoking and obesity.”

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The south west of England has a population age profile 10 to 15 years ahead of the rest of the country, thanks to Devon and Cornwall’s popularity as places to retire to in the UK. Research carried out in the region last year found that a third of patients admitted to A&E had very infrequent social interactions during the study period – less than once a month, or never. The research report concluded: “With social isolation strongly correlated with poor health outcomes, there is clearly work that could be done to improve the social interaction of the people in this study.”

Day care centres for the elderly can help alleviate this sense of isolation, but health care providers report that fewer people are accessing them, as a result of cuts to local authority budgets.

Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Services in the community, such as day centres for the elderly, can go a long way to alleviating loneliness and related conditions – but they are under considerable financial pressure. It’s really important that they are protected.”

Nuzhat Ali, older adults lead at Public Health England, said: “The health impact of loneliness is significant; in relation to older adults there is evidence that it impacts on depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. There is evidence to show that depression can progress the onset and speed with which dementia develops.”

Loneliness also reduces the speed with which older people recover from illnesses. Keith Willett said: “The low levels of mood, mild depression, that come from isolation and loneliness are significant contributors to patients not taking an interest in their care, because they feel noone else is interested in them.

“Low mood is not conducive to making a bouncy recovery. They may not look after themselves, they are not interested in their health, they may not bother to keep warm, they may not bother to take medication, because they don’t see a strong purpose.”

According to Willett, the practical consequences of older people living alone, without support, places a huge burden on the NHS, which becomes “the end point of a pathway where unsupported patients end up”. “It is a much wider societal problem”, which individuals, local authorities and the NHS have a joint responsibility to tackle, he added.

Willett advocates a transformation in the way the NHS looks after older people to “bring care to them at home”, to avoid the expensive, traumatic and unnecessary hospitalisation of older patients who would be much happier receiving care in the familiar setting of their own home.

“Older people who arrive in hospital usually spend longer in hospital, and that’s not ideal for them; that is not where they do well. They often have protracted stays, occupying acute facilities, when often they don’t have an acute medical problem, they really have a social care problem,” he said.

Under the current health care system patient support and care is provided “by moving them to a medical setting because we don’t provide it in a societal way in the community”, Willett said. “If that continues it will cripple the efficiency and effectiveness of our health care to those who do need acute care.”